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1 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement The Report of the Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge 2013

2 ALL TOGETHER NOW: COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION FOR YOUTH ENGAGEMENT The Report of the Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge A Call to Action... 5 Main Recommendations... 7 Selected recommendations for national, state, and local policymakers... 8 Selected recommendations for school districts and educators... 8 Recommendations for families and communities... 9 Recommendations for collaboration... 9 Research for this Report... 9 About the Commission New Data on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge Today s Special Challenges and Opportunities for Youth Civic Engagement Deep polarization and ideological conflict Growing inequality of civic opportunites Table 1: Voter Turnout Among Year Old Citizens An increasingly diverse youth population A powerful role for social media Fundamental Goals Free expression and civil deliberation Equality and quality of political engagement Recommendations Stitch together a quilt of helpful policies Table 2: Summary of State Policy Effects Involve families Support teachers Encourage collaboration Innovate and evaluate... 35

3 This report should be cited as: All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement: The Report of the Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge (Medford, MA: Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 2013), commission-on-youth-voting-civic-knowledge/ Planning a Discussion Appendix A: Selected Previous Research on Youth Political Engagement Appendix B: Data Collected for the Commission The Youth Engagement Fund Surveys The National Youth Survey Analysis of official turnout statistics A National Civics Teacher Survey Stakeholder interviews Appendix C: Examples of Good Practice Coalitions Programs Diverse and accessible opportunities for civically disadvantaged and non-college youth Engagement in controversy and disagreement that promotes youth voice/expression, information seeking and deliberation Lower barriers to youth political participation and increase transparency of the political system High-quality civic learning experiences and assessments that develop higher order knowledge and skills in the context of real-life issues Systems or networks of opportunities and support Notes... 54

4 As a teacher we surveyed for this report said, civic education is essential if we are to continue as a free democratic society. Not to educate the next generation will ensure the destruction of our American way of life as we know it.

5 A Call to Action Each new generation must become active, informed, responsible, and effective citizens. As a teacher we surveyed for this report said, civic education is essential if we are to continue as a free democratic society. Not to educate the next generation will ensure the destruction of our American way of life as we know it. Data show that many young Americans are reasonably well informed and active. For instance, 45% of citizens between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in the 2012 election. In a national survey conducted for this Commission, 76% of people under the age of 25 who voted could correctly answer at least one (out of two) factual questions about where the presidential candidates stood on a campaign issue and state their own opinion on that issue. On the other hand, more than half of young people did not vote. And on some topics, most young people were misinformed. A majority (51.2%) of under 25-yearolds believed that the federal government spends more on foreign aid than on Social Security, when in fact Social Security costs about 20 times more. (Older adults have also been found to be misinformed on similar topics.) Our research, like many other studies, finds that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are far less likely to be informed and to vote. These shortcomings cannot be attributed to the schools alone, since families, friends, political campaigns, election officials, the mass media, social media, and community-based organizations are among the other important influences on young people. In fact, our research shows that while schools matter, civic education must be a shared responsibility. The outcomes are acceptable only when all the relevant institutions invite, support, and educate young people to engage in politics and civic life. Improving the quality and quantity of youth participation will require new collaborations; for example, state election officials and schools should work together to make voting Breaking the pattern of the past forty years will require new ideas and the active support of all sectors of society. This report is intended to engage Americans in a new discussion, leading to experiments, partnerships, and reforms.

6 18-29 year olds who voted in % Voters under 25 who correctly answered one (of two) factual questions on a candidate s stance 76 % Citizens under 25 who believed more money is spent on foreign aid than Social Security 51 % 18-29s who knew their state s voter registration deadline in July % procedures understandable and to educate students about voting rules. Some of the existing strategies for civic education are strongly supported by research and deserve to be maintained and expanded. For instance, teaching young people explicitly about politics and elections is related to higher levels of political knowledge; thus schools should be encouraged and supported to cover politics in classes that reach all students. Young adults are also more civically engaged if they discussed underlying social and political problems in conjunction with service projects in high school. The effects of policies are more difficult to estimate than the effects of educational strategies and practices. There are only 50 states, and they differ in many ways. We find that some policies probably have detrimental consequences. For example, young people without college experience who lived in the states with photo ID requirements were less likely to vote in 2012 than those who lived in other states, even when we accounted for other factors that are related to voting. States with many restrictive measures in place on Election Day also saw lower turnout by non-college youth. Research conducted for this report does not by any means rule out the benefits of some existing policies, such as mandatory courses and tests or convenient means of voter registration. However, the data collected for the Commission and previous studies suggest that none of the existing state policies has an impressive 6 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

7 positive effect. Certainly, the current policies in states and major school districts do not come close to achieving the goals of civic education, which are to provide all young people with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be active and responsible citizens. Either the policies are misconceived, the quality of implementation is inadequate, or both. For example, we find that testing civics has no positive impact, but that could be because the tests are not well designed, teachers are not well prepared and supported to teach the material, or the curriculum is misaligned with the tests. The quality of implementation requires more attention, and there is an urgent need to experiment with wholly new strategies and policies, some of which are suggested in this report. Despite enormous shifts in the nature of campaigns and political issues, news and electronic media, the demographics of the youth population, and education policy and voting law, changes in youth turnout and civic knowledge have been limited since The average youth turnout (for ages 18-24) in presidential years from was 43.7%. The rate in 2012 was just a bit below the mean at 41.2%. Since 1972, the 50% threshold has never been breached. Meanwhile, the best national data on civic knowledge from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics Assessment show very small changes since the 1970s. 1 Although levels of turnout and knowledge have not changed dramatically over time, the Commission believes that the present moment is a particularly challenging one for civic educators, whether they work in schools or other settings. Civic education is a low priority for most policymakers and private funders, and the very idea of trying to engage young people in politics has become controversial. Breaking the pattern of the past forty years will require new ideas and the active support of all sectors of society including youth themselves. Just as we should teach young people to work together to address public problems each contributing his or her assets and ideas so people of all ages must collaborate to improve youth civic engagement. This report is intended to engage Americans in a new discussion about educating the next generation of voters, leading to experiments, partnerships, and reforms. Main Recommendations The following recommendations emerged from the Commissioners deliberations, which were informed by an in-depth analysis of prior research and extensive original research conducted during and after the 2012 election (see the next section for a summary of the new research). No single reform listed here is a panacea, but combining several of them would help build a supportive YOUNG PEOPLE DEVELOP AS CITIZENS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF: Their own parents and family members; Schools and colleges; Peer groups, both in-person and online; Community groups and religious congregations; Neighborhood and community norms; National news and entertainment media; Social media; and The formal political system. Civic education is best understood as a shared responsibility, requiring collaboration. 7

8 environment for youth civic learning and engagement. The main body of the report explains whether each of these recommendations is based on extensive experience and evaluation data or is a new idea that the Commissioners advocate on a pilot basis. Selected recommendations for national, state, and local policymakers Make voting more accessible through reforms such as Same Day Registration; automatic registration of eligible high school students or preregistration of 17-year-old students; and online registration with easy mobile updating. Implement state standards for civics that focus on developing advanced civic skills, such as deliberation and collaboration, rather than memorizing facts. Standards should be more challenging, more coherent, and more concerned with politics than the typical state standards in place today. Because these standards will be challenging, they will require both deep attention to civics within the social studies curriculum and support from other disciplines, such as English/language arts and the sciences. Experiment with assessments of civic skills that use portfolios of students work instead of standardized tests. (This reform is currently being implemented in Tennessee, and the experience there will provide valuable lessons.) Enact state and district policies that support teachers obligation to include discussions of current, controversial political issues in the curriculum. Lower the voting age to 17 in municipal or state elections so that students can be encouraged to vote while they are taking a required civics class. Increase the scale and quality of national and community service programs that involve elements of deliberation, collaboration, and work on social issues, and make sure they are open to youth who do not attend college. Selected recommendations for school districts and educators Implement high school course requirements with valid assessments that measure higher-order skills and the application of knowledge. Courses should teach the registration and voting process explicitly and engage students in following the news and deliberating about issues. Adopt explicit policies that protect teachers careers if they teach about controversial issues, as long as they encourage discussion of diverse perspectives on those issues. Provide professional development that goes well beyond one-day events and that is available to all teachers, including those serving disadvantaged students. 2 Use assessment systems that reward students discussion and investigation of current events and issues. Assign students to read and discuss news in class and with their parents or other adults. Teach in detail the current voting laws that apply in the state, as many young people do not know the specifics of the laws that govern voting in their own jurisdictions. Emphasize youth conducting community research and producing local journalism, with the twin goals of enhancing students communications skills and making a contribution to the community in light of the severe gap in professional reporting. Provide standards, curricular materials, and professional development that ensure students discuss the root causes of social problems when they participate in service-learning and ensure that student groups address social issues. Strengthen standards and curricula for digital media literacy and coordinate digital media literacy and civic education. Implement multi-player roleplaying video games as tools for civic education. Recommendations for families and communities Families and caring adults contribute to the younger generation s civic development in many ways. Families cannot be required to teach civic education, and even advice should be offered cautiously out of respect for families autonomy and diversity. But in general, families should: 8 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

9 Discuss current events (including upcoming elections) and political issues. Obtain and discuss high-quality news, to the extent possible. Encourage children to form and express their own views on current controversial issues. Support the discussion of controversial issues in schools. If eligible, vote, and talk to children about why they vote. Involve their children in out-ofschool groups and organizations that address political and social concerns. Recommendations for collaboration Develop and support statewide coalitions that advocate for favorable policies and work to ensure that policies are well implemented. (For instance, as well as advocating a civics test, the coalition will help design a good test, align it with materials and curricula, and help provide professional development for teachers.) Award badges for excellence in civics. These portable, online certificates would demonstrate advanced civic skills, knowledge, and actual contributions. Badges could be designed and awarded by various institutions (e.g., schools and religious congregations), but the sectors should share ideas and set voluntary standards. Encourage parents to participate in civic activities within schools, e.g., by judging students portfolios or by joining discussions of current events. Align states high school civics curricula with voting reforms that encourage pre-registration in schools. Support the study of civics and government among college students who are headed for teaching careers. Hold contests and award certificates of civic achievement. Students enrolled in k-12 schools would be eligible, but community groups would participate in judging and awarding the prizes. Parents and other adults could also be eligible for awards. Research for this Report To investigate the full range of influences on informed youth voting, CIRCLE organized and staffed a scholarly, nonpartisan commission. Research for the Commission was funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, W.T. Grant Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Spencer Foundation and the Youth Engagement Fund. To inform the Commission s deliberations, CIRCLE conducted the following ambitious and original research projects in : The Youth Engagement Fund polls: CIRCLE conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,695 youth (ages 18-29) in June/July 2012 and surveyed 1,109 of the same youth in October 2012 to track change during the campaign season. The National Youth Survey: Immediately after the election, CIRCLE surveyed 4,483 representative individuals (ages 18-24) by cell phone and land-line phones. At least 75 participants came from each of the 50 states and Washington, DC ( per state) to allow us to estimate the effects of state policies using a statistical model. Participants of Black and Hispanic backgrounds were slightly oversampled. The Teacher Survey: In May and June 2013, CIRCLE surveyed a national sample of high school government and social studies teachers. We collected 720 complete teacher responses. Stakeholder interviews: CIRCLE interviewed 15 stakeholders (nonprofit leaders and advocates, including young adults) and coded and summarized their ideas. Analysis of national data: CIRCLE analyzed National Exit Poll and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, Voting and Registration Supplement (CPS Voting Supplement) data to calculate youth turnout and to examine relationships between turnout and laws at the state level. Policy scans: CIRCLE conducted a full scan of all the states civic education policies and a separate scan of their teacher certification requirements. We categorized these laws to incorporate them in statistical models of the effects of policies on youth outcomes. A literature review: CIRCLE completed a comprehensive literature review, highlights of which are briefly summarized as Appendix A. 9

10 In all, we surveyed or interviewed 6,913 people (some more than once, to detect changes over time) and scanned the relevant laws of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia for the purpose of producing this report. Additional details are available in Appendix B. Foundation and Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison Joseph Kahne, Professor of Education at Mills College and Chair of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics Program Assistant; Felicia Sullivan, Senior Researcher; and Nancy Thomas, Director of CIRCLE s Initiative for the Study of Higher Education and Public Life. About the Commission The members of the Commission are among the most distinguished scholarly experts on youth political engagement, representing diverse disciplines and institutions. They studied and discussed the findings from the new research and then jointly wrote this report. Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling Jr., Professor of History and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Michael McDevitt, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado, Boulder Richard G. Niemi, Don Alonzo Watson Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester David Campbell, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, the University of Notre Dame Constance Flanagan, Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Wisconsin- Madison Lisa García Bedolla, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley Trey Grayson, Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and former Secretary of State of Kentucky Eitan Hersh, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University Diana Hess, Senior Vice President, the Spencer Eric Plutzer, Professor of Political Science, Penn State University Debra Satz, Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society and Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University Ismail K. White, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Ohio State University Staff: CIRCLE provided research and other forms of support for the Commission. CIRCLE Director Peter Levine was the Principal Investigator on all the research efforts and coordinated the Commission. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, CIRCLE s Deputy Director, had primary responsibility for the research. Other key staff were: Surbhi Godsay, Researcher; Abby Kiesa, Youth Coordinator & Researcher; Kathy O Connor, 10 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

11 New Data on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge Many of the statistics and specific findings presented in this report have previously been released publicly under the aegis of the Commission. But this report is the first-ever presentation of several findings, such as the following: ««For young people without college experience, the existence of a photo ID law in their state predicted lower turnout in 2012, even after we included many other potential explanations in our statistical models. (Future elections may differ from 2012, when the photo ID laws were highly controversial and actively opposed.) ««Allowing people to register to vote on the same day that they vote had a positive effect on youth turnout in 2012, and that finding is consistent with previous research. ««About one in four high school civics or American government teachers believe that the parents of their students or other adults in their community would object if they brought discussion of politics into the classroom. ««Ninety percent of teachers believe that their principal would support their decision to teach about an election (and 46% would expect strong support from principals). But only 38% of teachers think they would get strong support from their district, and only 28% think parents would strongly support them. If teachers perceive strong support, they are significantly more likely to provide an open climate for discussion in class and tend to prefer more deliberative forms of discussion. Teachers with more experience are more likely to perceive support. ««Attending racially diverse high schools predicted lower electoral engagement and lower levels of informed voting, probably because it is more difficult to discuss controversial issues in diverse contexts, and individuals feel less encouragement to participate politically when others around them disagree. 3 On the other hand, discussion of controversial current issues in school and parental support for controversial discussions diminished the negative relationship between diversity and electoral engagement. ««Only eight states (California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) include social studies in their assessments of schools performance, usually as a very small proportion of the schools scores. ««Only ten states (Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin) require teachers of government or civics to be certified in civics or government. 11

12 Challenges and Opportunities Young people do not automatically acquire the skills, knowledge, motivations, and values necessary to contribute to the republic; they must be educated and encouraged. 12 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement Every generation needs civic education. Young people do not automatically acquire the skills, knowledge, motivations, and values necessary to contribute to the republic; they must be educated and encouraged. This principle has long been recognized. The great champion of free public education, Horace Mann, wrote in 1846, since the achievement of American independence, the universal and everrepeated argument in favor of public schools has been that the general intelligence which they are capable of diffusing is indispensable to the continuance of republican government. 4 But each generation faces unique circumstances. Today s young people enter civic and political life at a time characterized by four interrelated trends, each of which poses special challenges and opportunities: 1. Deep polarization and ideological conflict We are living in a period of bitter partisan and ideological conflict, especially in official political settings like the U.S. Congress. Americans disagree about political issues, but professional politicians are more polarized than the public and more polarized than political leaders used to be. In February 2013, 76% of registered voters said that American politics had become more divisive lately, 74% believed that this was a bad trend, and 55% agreed that the parties were more divided than the public was.5 Polarization contributes to failures of governance, such as repeated fiscal crises in Washington, DC. The constant controversy and struggle for advantage also lead many Americans to disdain politics, to mistrust their THE CHALLENGE: Civic education is especially difficult when young people have good reasons to view politics as polarized and dysfunctional. THE OPPORTUNITY: Teaching a new generation to be civil, responsible, and constructive citizens may be part of the solution to our polarized and dysfunctional politics.

13 Challenges and Opportunities Young people do not automatically acquire the skills, knowledge, motivations, and values necessary to contribute to the republic; they must be educated and encouraged. 12 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement Every generation needs civic education. Young people do not automatically acquire the skills, knowledge, motivations, and values necessary to contribute to the republic; they must be educated and encouraged. This principle has long been recognized. The great champion of free public education, Horace Mann, wrote in 1846, since the achievement of American independence, the universal and everrepeated argument in favor of public schools has been that the general intelligence which they are capable of diffusing is indispensable to the continuance of republican government. 4 But each generation faces unique circumstances. Today s young people enter civic and political life at a time characterized by four interrelated trends, each of which poses special challenges and opportunities: 1. Deep polarization and ideological conflict We are living in a period of bitter partisan and ideological conflict, especially in official political settings like the U.S. Congress. Americans disagree about political issues, but professional politicians are more polarized than the public and more polarized than political leaders used to be. In February 2013, 76% of registered voters said that American politics had become more divisive lately, 74% believed that this was a bad trend, and 55% agreed that the parties were more divided than the public was.5 Polarization contributes to failures of governance, such as repeated fiscal crises in Washington, DC. The constant controversy and struggle for advantage also lead many Americans to disdain politics, to mistrust their THE CHALLENGE: Civic education is especially difficult when young people have good reasons to view politics as polarized and dysfunctional. THE OPPORTUNITY: Teaching a new generation to be civil, responsible, and constructive citizens may be part of the solution to our polarized and dysfunctional politics.

14 RELEVANT RECOMMENDATIONS Enact state and district policies that support teachers obligation to include discussions of current, controversial political issues in the curriculum. Assign students to read and discuss news in class and with their parents or other adults. Implement state standards for civics that focus on developing advanced civic skills, such as deliberation and collaboration, rather than memorizing facts. Standards should be more challenging, more coherent, and more concerned with politics than the typical state standards in place today. fellow citizens, and sometimes to view other Americans political participation with hostility. Although low trust for Congress is widely known, it may be just as significant that a dwindling majority (57%) [of Americans] say they have a good deal of confidence in the wisdom of the American people when it comes to making political decisions. 6 Young people are special targets of suspicion. Commissioners are struck by the controversy about whether youth voting is desirable, and whether promoting it can be a nonpartisan goal. In one of our stakeholder interviews (see Appendix B5), Rob Biko Baker, the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, said, The worst thing is that civic engagement, generally, has become a partisan issue. ( The best thing, he added, is that young people are connected, smart, and are able to lift up above the partisan nature of our political system. ) Cynicism about the capacity of youth to be responsible citizens leaves educators and policymakers little room to propose reforms that entail some risk but potentially high returns. Beyond making specific suggestions for reforms, the Commission hopes to encourage the spirit of tolerance and goodwill conducive to innovation. Disagreements among national elites involve not only values and goals for society, but also basic factual issues regarding science and economics. In designing the National Youth Survey, we found it difficult to write politically neutral, purely factual questions, because so many premises about the issues and even about where the major parties candidates stood on the issues were hotly contested. For a young person, political discourse as a whole can be confusing and may promote blanket skepticism or cynicism, and we should acknowledge that this is both a rational response and one intended by those who would poison the well of civil deliberation. In that survey, just 22% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 could choose the issue of greatest importance to themselves and answer two (out of two) factual questions about the candidates positions on that issue. Although the Commission is concerned about civic education, one explanation for these low scores may be that the presidential campaign was confusing and was reported in confusing ways. In a separate study that CIRCLE conducted during the 2012 election campaign for the Democracy Fund, more than 80 percent of a random sample of adults said that campaign advertising frequently depends on selective evidence or information taken out of context. In open-ended responses, an outright majority of this sample took the opportunity to denounce political advertising in very general and often furious ways. One comment It is rampant and I despise it succinctly captures the spirit of those responses. Some respondents shifted the blame to fellow citizens, whom they described in scathing terms, e.g., It s a sad state of affairs that the political advertising used today is effective because of a largely ignorant electorate. 7 Members of the Commission disagree about how to evaluate aspects of the current American political system. For instance, the Commissioners hold mixed feelings about negative ads, which may alienate people from politics but also tend to be substantive. 8 Some Commissioners regard the hundreds of millions of dollars in political advertising as a sign of corruption; others view this as evidence that Americans are actively participating in politics by making campaign contributions. 14 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

15 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Table 1: Voter Turnout Among 18 to 29 Year Old Citizens Voter Turnout Among 18 to 29 Year Old Citizens in Presidential Years, by Educational Attainment BA or More Some College Experience But the American people clearly regard the political process as dysfunctional, and the Commission understands the public s critical stance. Civic education cannot be just a matter of teaching and persuading young people to participate in the existing system; it must acknowledge deep-seated and understandable critiques of politics. Young people are still at a formative stage in their development, and our political process may be confusing them and teaching them to distrust institutions, their fellow citizens, and most sources of news and information. At the same time, civic education that emphasizes deliberative values, critical thinking, and collaboration looks increasingly important and attractive. One teacher we surveyed said, Especially given the political divide in America today, teaching civil discourse is vital. Virtually all of the teachers we surveyed said that their students were free to disagree openly with them about political and social issues. All of them said that students should make up their High School Graduate (no college experience) Less Than High School own minds about issues. Sixtyfive percent said that it was definitely an important duty of citizens to discuss political issues civilly with people who hold very different views. In the best civics classes and out-of-school civic programs, diverse young people discuss important issues with civility, creativity, reliable information, and a shared desire to address public problems. These opportunities are antidotes to the worst features of our official politics. What works well in civic learning e.g., encouraging youth to exchange opinions in open and respectful climates is also what the larger political system needs. By contrast, trying to shield students from rancorous politics is unnecessarily defensive, if not harmful. Some scholars believe that the discomfort many adults feel about political discussion could be due to their lack of participation in political dialogue when they were children and teenagers. 9 Perhaps the surest way to ensure incivility in American culture is to take politics out of political education. 2. Growing inequality of civic opportunities The national college attendance gap exemplifies the deep inequality of our educational institutions. Even though a college degree has become the main gateway to the middle class, about half of young people do not obtain any college credits, and most in that group come from lowerincome communities. American children in the top quarter of the income distribution have an 80% chance of attending college while they are young adults, whereas young Americans whose families are in the bottom quarter of the income distribution have just a 17% chance of entering college. 10 THE CHALLENGE: Almost all of the most inspiring and intellectually challenging forms of civic education both in school and out of school are available disproportionately to advantaged young people. THE OPPORTUNITY: K-12 education can reach everyone and has the potential to promote civic and political equality as well as skills useful for school and work. 15

16 RELEVANT RECOMMENDATIONS Make voting more accessible through reforms such as Same Day Registration; automatic registration of eligible high school students or pre-registration of 17-year-old students; and online registration with easy mobile updating. Economic stratification has worsened since the 1980s. A Century Foundation task force finds that the proportion of students who come from the bottom quarter of the socioeconomic distribution grew in the community college population while it decreased significantly in the four-year college population. Today, the socioeconomically least advantaged students represent 28% of community college enrollment but less than 10% at very, highly, and most competitive colleges. 11 Levels of civic engagement are also unequal. Young adults who had attended college voted at almost twice the rate of their non-college-educated peers in The gap in Increase the scale and quality of national and community service programs that involve elements of deliberation, collaboration, and work on social issues, and make sure they are open to youth who do not attend college. Provide professional development that goes well beyond one-day events and that is available to all teachers, including those serving disadvantaged students. engagement by education has been consistent since the voting age was lowered to 18 in Meanwhile, rates of participation in churches, voluntary associations, grassroots political parties, and unions, as well as readership of daily news, have fallen for working-class young people, who report a deep lack of opportunity to learn and practice citizenship. 13 Civic engagement looks especially daunting for young adults who lack strong connections to organizations and who struggle with long hours, economic insecurity, needs in their families and households, and debt. Chrissy Faessen, Vice President for Marketing and Communications for Rock the Vote, reflected on this civic opportunity gap, saying, when we enter classrooms in under-served communities, or when we bring in an artist ambassador to help deliver our message, and we ask students, What issues do you care about? it s typically the first time they ve ever been asked that. Civics continues to be well taught in some advantaged communities, but much less so in schools that serve lowincome and minority youth. 14 Both class and race are related to a lower likelihood of scoring in the proficient range on the NAEP Civics Assessment, but the gap is even larger when we compare White, wealthy students to Black or Hispanic students who come from less affluent backgrounds. White, wealthy students are four to six times as likely as Hispanic or Black students who come from low-income households to exceed the proficient cut-off. Not only are White and wealthy students more likely to receive recommended civic education experiences in school, but the content and topics they discuss and the way these are presented are often tailored to White and middle-class students rather than students of color and poor students. 15 The educational reform movements of the last 20 years have generally overlooked civics, thereby allowing disparities to persist and grow. As the United States Department of Education acknowledged in 2012, unfortunately, civic learning and democratic engagement are add-ons rather than essential parts of the core academic mission in too many schools and on too many college campuses today. 16 Indeed, just nine states require students to pass a social studies test in order to graduate from high school, and just eight states have standardized tests that cover civics/american government. 17 Only eight states include social studies in their overall assessments of school performance, usually as a very small proportion of the schools scores. In 2013, the NAEP Civics Assessment was canceled because of budget cuts while other NAEP assessments went ahead. States such as California that require high school civics only in the 12th grade overlook the many young people who have dropped out before then. 16 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

17 Unequal opportunities are especially unfortunate because high-quality civic education is sometimes found to provide the greatest benefits to least advantaged students. 18 In analyzing the 2012 National Youth Survey, we found that discussion of controversial issues in schools was most beneficial for students who lacked experience with political discussion at home, and those individuals came disproportionately from lowincome families. Other research shows that an open climate for classroom expression engenders increased attention to news and political media and discussion between parents and children in Latino families, on topics such as immigration and access to higher education. 19 On the other hand, CIRCLE s analysis of the NAEP Civics data found that discussion, debate, and role-playing simulations in school boosted civic knowledge more for advantaged students than for disadvantaged students, which points to the need for materials, activities, and professional development that address the special needs of disadvantaged youth. 20 When young people experience high-quality civic education, they can gain skills, networks, confidence, and interests that are also useful in college and the workforce. For example, young adolescents who begin high school with similar backgrounds and achievement levels are much more likely to graduate and attend college if they participate in community service through high school courses or serve on student government. 21 Randomized experiments have also found educational and health benefits from programs that involve community service and activism. 22 These positive outcomes provide additional reasons not to tolerate deep inequalities in the availability of civic education. Women s sense of their own leadership potential falls during the college years, while men s rises. Inequality takes other forms as well. For example, conservative and Republican youth have been much less likely to participate in the last two national elections compared to their peers with centrist or liberal views. 23 Recent research adds that conservatives are less likely to participate in dissemination of news content in social media, 24 although we will have more to say below on the vast opportunities afforded by social media once harnessed in civic education. Research also indicates that civic education is not affording young women an equal desire to become politically engaged and to represent their communities. College women are less likely than men to aspire to political careers at a local and national level, 25 to discuss politics on a regular basis, and to believe they have the leadership qualities, competitiveness, and social competency that would qualify them for office. 26 Women s sense of their own leadership potential falls during the college years, while men s rises. 27 These factors may partly explain why women represent just 18.3% of Congress and 17.5% of city mayors. 28 On the other hand, young African Americans, who are on average less engaged in most forms of civic engagement than Whites, voted at the highest rate of any young racial/ethnic group in 2008 and 2012, and they came close to young Whites in several previous elections before Barack Obama was a national candidate. Given the longstanding history of systematic discrimination against African Americans and persistent inequality in education and employment, this is an important reminder that things can change for the better. 17

18 THE CHALLENGE: Civic education (in and out of school) must reflect the backgrounds and circumstances of diverse young people, and schools must encourage discussions of difficult issues when their students have highly diverse backgrounds. THE OPPORTUNITY: Diverse young people enrich discussions and collaborations in their schools, communities, and the nation. Civic education can meet a national need to prepare young people to deliberate and collaborate with diverse fellow citizens. 3. An increasingly diverse youth population Effective civic education must meet young people where they are and address their needs and values, while also drawing them into a common public life. Today s young people are diverse to an unprecedented degree. More than one quarter of young Americans (ages 18-29) have at least one parent who was born in a country other than the United States. Thirty-eight percent of the 18-29s are people of color. In a racially and culturally diverse America, students and their families have different experiences with politics and government and hold varying political philosophies that fall well within the appropriate range of debate. One size does not fit all: civic education must be attentive to diverse perspectives and must honor students experiences and the cultural context of the communities in which they live. 29 At the same time, an important goal is to bring diverse young Americans into a common conversation about the public good. Although diverse, today s young people experience pervasively segregated schools and communities. For example, the national youth population is multiracial, but only 15.2% of White public school students attend multiracial schools, those with at least a tenth of their students coming from three or more groups. 30 Previous research has revealed that discussions of current issues are least common in racially diverse schools. 31 Our analysis of the 2012 National Youth Survey adds that students who attend multiracial schools are least likely to discuss current events with families and friends. Also, when other factors are held constant, we find that young adults are less likely to vote if they attended racially diverse schools. It may appear harder to broach difficult topics and to encourage participation if the student body is diverse. At the same time, our analysis shows that when young people attend diverse schools and experience discussions of current events or belong to extracurricular groups that address social problems, they are more engaged and knowledgeable. A diverse but internally segregated high school can be seen as a microcosm of 21st Century young America. Discussions of current events and collaborative action are more difficult but also more necessary and potentially more fruitful because of the diversity. 4. A powerful role for social media Young people are the most avid and creative users of new media, which penetrate almost all aspects of their lives. In 2012, 92% of youth (18-29) in the United States used at least one social media site, up from just 8% in Fortyfour percent of young adults who used a social media site promoted political material by posting or liking it. 33 Increasingly, core acts of civic and political engagement such as raising money, mobilization RELEVANT RECOMMENDATIONS Experiment with assessments of civic skills that use portfolios of students work instead of standardized tests. Provide standards, curricular materials, and professional development that ensure students discuss the root causes of social problems when they participate in service-learning and that student groups address social issues. Award badges for excellence in civics. 18 All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

19 THE CHALLENGE: Obtaining information online requires special literacy skills, and social media may contribute to political polarization when people share material from like-minded sources. THE OPPORTUNITY: Social media offer new venues for engagement and dialogue and new ways to interact constructively. There are new opportunities to tap social practices to foster more widespread and equitable civic and political participation. for action, discussion of issues, and circulation of both information and perspectives rely on digital media. As recent campaigns against Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) illustrate, large numbers of young people can quickly mobilize online. With their low cost and broad reach, social media are able to draw people with common interests together, even over vast distances. The immediacy of social media also means that online discussions of political issues can be held in real time. Of particular relevance, social media appear to enable forms of participatory politics that expand opportunities for youth to engage civically and politically in ways that promote their voice and sometimes their influence. 34 These participatory politics are interactive, draw on young people s social networks, and are not guided by institutions (political parties, newspaper editors, or large non-profit and for-profit organizations). Actions might include writing or commenting on a blog about a social issue or circulating information or perspectives via social media. Drawing as they do on practices that are part of the lives of most youth, it is perhaps not surprising that they are increasingly common. 35 In addition, many youth now get their news through participatory channels. Forty-five percent of youth reported getting news on political issues at least once a week from family and friends via Facebook and Twitter. By way of comparison, 49% reported getting such news from a newspaper or magazine (online or offline combined). 36 In addition to the sheer frequency of use, several factors make digital media particularly significant for youth. First, social media create more space for youth leadership and active engagement than do major political institutions, which rarely give youth significant roles. Drawing on social media, youth can be actively engaged in consuming, circulating, discussing, curating, and producing civic and political content. Second, youth engagement in participatory politics is more equitably distributed by race and income than are youth voting or adult participation in civic and political life. 37 Kahne and Middaugh report that Internet access varies only a fraction among the four racial groups we studied all above 94%. 38 Recent research shows that participation in social media empowers Latino youth as information leaders in immigrant communities. 39 Third, social media have the potential to allow diverse young people to interact even when their schools and neighborhoods are segregated. We see great value in connecting social media with the civics curriculum so that the attributes of digital interaction spontaneity, access, and assertion of political voice are guided by the deliberative principles of formal instruction. Many programs and platforms have and are being developed for youth both in and out of school. These programs and platforms connect social media to youth interests and youth networks as a means RELEVANT RECOMMENDATIONS Emphasize in the curriculum youth conducting community research and producing local journalism. Strengthen standards and curricula for digital media literacy and coordinate digital media literacy and civic education. Implement multiplayer roleplaying video games as tools for civic education. 19

20 of energizing and deepening learning and engagement in civic and political life (see examples in Appendix C). However, online groups can often create echo chambers, as shared interests reinforce shared political views.40 Rather than exposing citizens to the healthy give-and-take of democratic debate, social media may reinforce their political predispositions, potentially spreading the partisan rancor so common among our elected officials. Young people can also fail to develop a public voice capable of affecting public opinion if they mostly interact with peer groups online.41 Social media enable youth and adults to circumvent gatekeepers who historically helped vet information. Youth will need digital media literacy skills to critically engage with all the information (and misinformation) they can now find online, to seek out a range of perspectives, and to be thoughtful about the content they circulate and create.42 Linda Nguyen, Director of Civic Engagement for the Alliance for Children and Families, told us in a stakeholder interview, I don t know if there s a lack of [sources for political information]. It s more about who can you trust? Who are the trusted sources and how are we supporting those trusted sources? In our Teacher Survey, all the respondents agreed that students must learn to identify credible information, and all but a handful of teachers also thought that students must learn to produce credible 20 information. But often schools and after-school contexts lack the infrastructure to enable youth to engage online, and policies often prevent digital activity in educational settings. Youth will need digital media literacy skills to critically engage with all the information (and misinformation) they can now find online, to seek out a range of perspectives, and to be thoughtful about the content they circulate and create. All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement

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